Method and apparatus for backup communication services

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus is disclosed for backup communication services. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a wireless interface having a detection module to detect an interruption in a portion of communication services supplied to a plurality of residences by a central office over communication lines coupled to a cross-connect operating in a service area interface (SAI), and a controller module to direct a wireless transceiver to establish communications with a wireless station in response to the interruption, and to direct the cross-connect to provide communication services to a portion of the plurality of residences affected by the interruption by way of the wireless transceiver. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/426,496, filed Jun. 26, 2006, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to communication services, andmore specifically to a method and apparatus for backup communicationservices.

BACKGROUND

As communication networks continue to grow at a rapid pace, substantialnetwork expansion is taking place to expand the bandwidth capacitysupplied to residences and commercial enterprises. In the course ofnetwork construction or maintenance thereof it is common for inadvertentoutages to occur due to an accidental break in one or more communicationlinks.

These outages can be very costly to commercial enterprises and can be anannoyance to consumers. If outages are too frequent, businesses andconsumers can choose to subscribe to services from competing serviceproviders. Moreover, outages can be dangerous during emergencysituations warranting rapid response.

A need therefore arises for a method and apparatus for backupcommunication services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a communication system;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a wireless interfaceoperating in a service area interface (SAI) of the communication system;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary method operating in the communicationsystem; and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure provide a methodand apparatus for backup communication services.

In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a wireless interfacecan have a detection module to detect an interruption in a portion ofcommunication services supplied to a plurality of residences by acentral office over communication lines coupled to a cross-connectoperating in a service area interface (SAI), and a controller module todirect a wireless transceiver to establish communications with awireless station in response to the interruption, and to direct thecross-connect to provide communication services to a portion of theplurality of residences affected by the interruption by way of thewireless transceiver.

In a second embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readablestorage medium in a wireless interface can operate in a service areainterface (SAI) with computer instructions for detecting an interruptionin a portion of communication services supplied by a central officecoupled to a cross-connect of the SAI to a plurality of establishments,and directing the cross-connect to provide communication services to aportion of the plurality of establishments affected by the interruptionby way of a wireless transceiver supplying backup communication servicesby way of a wireless communication system.

In a third embodiment of the present disclosure, a service areainterface (SAI) can have a cross-connect coupled to a central office anda plurality of buildings, a wireless transceiver coupled to thecross-connect to supply backup communication services by way of awireless station, a detection module to detect an interruption incommunication services supplied by the central office to the pluralityof buildings by way of the cross-connect, and a controller module todirect the wireless transceiver to establish communications with thewireless station in response to the interruption, and direct thecross-connect to redirect communications associated with a portion ofthe plurality of buildings affected by the interruption to the wirelesstransceiver.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a communication system 100.The communication system 100 comprises a central office (CO) 106 and aplurality of service area interfaces (SAIs) 110 each coupled to aplurality of buildings 112. The CO 106 houses common network switchingequipment for distributing local and long-distance telecommunicationservices supplied by network 105 to buildings 112 (such as dwellings orcommercial enterprises) by way of the distribution systems 110. Forillustration purposes only, buildings 112 will be referred to herein asresidences 112. Telecommunication services of the CO 106 can includetraditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) and broadband servicessuch as HDTV, DSL, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), IPTV (InternetProtocol Television), Internet services, and so on.

Links 107 can be twisted copper pairs for distributing power to the SAIs110. Alternatively, links 107 can be coupled to local commercial powernear the SAIs 110 supplied by, for example, a utility company. The SAI110 can be coupled to optical and/or electrical cables 109 supplied bythe CO 106, which carries any one or more of the aforementionedcommunications services. These services can be processed in part byactive circuits in the SAI 106 and/or circuits at the residences 112.Each cable 109 carries communication lines numbering in the tens orhundreds. The SAI 110 serves to distribute portions of the cables 109among the residences 112 as dedicated communication links 111. Thus, theSAI 110 serves as a local cross-connect system for unbundlingcommunication lines in cable 109.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a wireless interface 200operating in an SAI 110 of the communication system 100. The wirelessinterface 200 includes a wireless transceiver 202, and a controller 204that manages operations of the wireless transceiver 202. The wirelesstransceiver 202 can be used for interfacing to a wireless station 113when an interruption is detected in the communication services providedby the CO 106 to the residences 112. The interruption can be caused byany number of reasons including maintenance operation in the SAI 110, oran inadvertent break in a portion of the cable 109 due to for examplefield engineers performing cable maintenance, repair/splicing, oradditions.

The wireless station 113 can represent a cellular base station, WiMax orsoftware defined radio (SDR) communication node, which provides backupcommunication services to the residences 112 during a communicationoutage with the CO 106. In the case of a cellular base station, saidstation can support for example GSM, CDMA, UMTS or other present or nextgeneration wireless communication protocols. The controller 204 utilizescommon computing technology such as a microprocessor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), or a custom ASIC (Application Specific IntegratedCircuit) state machine. The controller 204 can have internal or externalstorage media such as a RAM, SRAM, Flash, or other common storageelement(s).

As shown in FIG. 2, the transceiver 202 and controller 204 interfaces toa cross-connect system 206 of the SAI 110. The cross-connect 206 caninclude a common multiplexer (not shown). Under the direction of thecontroller 204, the multiplexer can serve to multiplex links 111 fromthe residences 112 to one among the wireless transceiver 202 and thecables 109 of the CO 106 depending on the state of operations monitoredby the controller 204.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary method 300 operating in the communicationsystem 100. Method 300 begins with step 302 in which the controller 204of each SAI 110 can be programmed to monitor communications between theCO 106 and the residences 112. In this step, the controller 204 checksfor any anomalous behavior in the communication stream between the CO106 and the residences 112. In its simplest form, an anomalous behaviorcan include a complete outage of a portion or all of the servicesprovided by the communication lines in cable 109. In a more complexembodiment, the controller 204 can also monitor for quality of servicecriteria such as signal to noise ratio, bit error rate, packet losses,analog signal quality, and so on. The controller 204 monitors thequality of the communication lines from the ingress and/or egress pointof the cross-connect 206 (i.e., cable 109 or link 111).

If the controller 204 does not identify in step 304 a substantiveinterruption in communication services to the residences 112, thecross-connect 206 continues normal operations by supplying communicationservices to the residences 112 by way of the CO 106. If on the other aninterruption is detected in step 304, the controller 204 proceeds tostep 306 where it directs the wireless transceiver 202 to establishcommunications with the wireless station 113. This step can represent arequest submitted to the wireless station 113 to support a number ofcommunication channels to satisfy the bandwidth requirements of theresidences 112.

Once communications have been established, the controller 204 directs instep 308 the cross-connect 206 to redirect by way of its multiplexer thelinks 111 of the residences 112 affected by the interruption to thewireless transceiver 308. Once this is accomplished, communicationservices can resume for the affected residences 112 as before. Due tothe costly nature of transporting high bandwidth traffic wirelessly, theservice provider of the communication system 100 can decide to limitcommunications in step 310 to emergency services. In this step,emergency services can be provided bilaterally in a first embodiment, orunilaterally in another. Additionally, the wireless station 113 can bean integral part of the emergency response center (such as a publicservice access point or PSAP). Accordingly, communications between theresidences 112 and the PSAP can be point to point.

In the first embodiment, end users at the residences 112 can makeemergency calls such as 911 to emergency response centers coupled to thewireless station 113. Similarly, emergency response centers can makecalls to residences 112 such as in cases where a broadcast message issubmitted to residences 112 to notify end users of an emergencysituation (e.g., Tornado warning). In the latter embodiment, only theemergency response centers can contact residences 112 or vice-versa.

In step 312, the controller 204 monitors restoration of service in thecommunication lines of cable 109. If the outage continues, thecontroller 204 maintains the backup state of the cross-connect 206providing services by way of the wireless transceiver 202. If controller204 detects that services have been restored in step 312, it proceeds tostep 314 where it directs the cross-connect 206 to reconnect theaffected communication lines of cable 109 to the links 111, therebyrestoring communication services by way of the CO 106. In step 316, thecontroller 204 can be further programmed to deactivate communicationsbetween the wireless transceiver 202 and the wireless station 113.Deactivation can represent placing the wireless transceiver 202 in sleepmode rather than a complete shutdown of communications between thewireless transceiver 202 and the wireless station 113.

It would be evident to an artisan with ordinary skill in the art thatthe aforementioned embodiments can be modified, reduced, or enhancedwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the claims describedbelow. For example, communication services need not be limited toemergency responses. Accordingly, step 310 can be removed withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims. Additionally, the deactivationstep 316 can be removed. Instead bandwidth can be reserved for the SAI110 to perform a rapid backup response to a specific outage. In yetanother embodiment, the wireless interface 200 can be located at aremote location from the SAI 110 such as for example the CO 106 or anetwork element of network 105. In this embodiment, a dedicatedcommunication line can be coupled between the wireless interface 200 andthe SAI 110. Consequently, the wireless interface 200 does not have tobe an integral component of the SAI 110.

These are but a few examples of modifications that can be applied to thepresent disclosure. The reader is therefore directed to the claims belowfor a fuller understanding of the breadth and scope of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system 400 within which a set of instructions, when executed,may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed above. In some embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected(e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networked deployment,the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client usermachine in server-client user network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly anyelectronic device that provides voice, video or data communication.Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 400 may include a processor 402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a mainmemory 404 and a static memory 406, which communicate with each othervia a bus 408. The computer system 400 may further include a videodisplay unit 410 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system400 may include an input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 414 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 416, a signal generationdevice 418 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a network interfacedevice 420.

The disk drive unit 416 may include a machine-readable medium 422 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 424)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated above. The instructions 424may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 404, the static memory 406, and/or within the processor 402during execution thereof by the computer system 400. The main memory 404and the processor 402 also may constitute machine-readable media.

Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatusand systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety ofelectronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions intwo or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices withrelated control and data signals communicated between and through themodules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit.Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 424, or that which receives and executes instructions 424from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 426 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 426 using the instructions 424. Theinstructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over a network426 via the network interface device 420.

While the machine-readable medium 422 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure.

The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memorycard or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile)memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile)memories; magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape; andcarrier wave signals such as a signal embodying computer instructions ina transmission medium; and/or a digital file attachment to email orother self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one ormore of a machine-readable medium or a distribution medium, as listedherein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, inwhich the software implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R.§1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quicklyascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted withthe understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit thescope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it can be seen that various features are grouped togetherin a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed embodiments require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of asingle disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separately claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless interface, comprising: a memorystoring computer instructions; a detection device coupled to the memory,wherein the detection device responsive to executing the computerinstructions detects a service deficiency in a portion of communicationservices supplied to a plurality of residences by a central office,wherein the service deficiency is based on a bit error rate not meetinga desired threshold without the portion of the communication servicesaffected by the service deficiency being interrupted, a signal-to-noiseratio not meeting a desired threshold without an outage of the portionof the communication services affected by the service deficiency, and aquality of an analog signal not meeting a desired threshold without thecommunication services affected by the service deficiency beinginterrupted, wherein the central office is coupled over firstcommunication lines to a cross-connect operating in a service areainterface, wherein second communication lines connect the plurality ofresidences with the service area interface; a monitor device coupled tothe memory and the detection device and co-located at the service areainterface, wherein the monitor device responsive to executing thecomputer instructions monitors communications between the central officeand the service area interface without monitoring communications betweenthe service area interface and the plurality of residences to detect theservice deficiency, wherein the monitored communications are associatedwith the plurality of residences; and a controller device coupled to thememory, wherein the controller device responsive to executing thecomputer instructions performs operations comprising: directing awireless transceiver to establish communications with a wireless stationin response to the detected service deficiency, directing thecross-connect to provide communication services to a portion of theplurality of residences affected by the detected service deficiency byway of the wireless transceiver to bypass the first communication lineswhile delivering the communication services to the portion of theplurality of residences over the second communication lines, andrestricting communication services to the portion of the plurality ofresidences affected by the detected service deficiency to emergencyservices when the wireless transceiver is engaged to supply saidcommunication services, wherein the detection and controller devices areco-located with the cross-connect at the service area interface, whereinthe service area interface is remotely located from each of theplurality of residences for distributing the communication services toeach of the plurality of residences, and wherein the cross-connectcomprises a multiplexer for coupling communication lines associated withthe portion of the plurality of residences affected by the servicedeficiency to the wireless transceiver.
 2. The wireless interface ofclaim 1, wherein the monitor device when executing the computerinstructions monitors for a restoration associated with the servicedeficiency.
 3. The wireless interface of claim 1, comprising arestoration detection device to detect a restoration of satisfactoryoperations of the portion of communication services affected by thedetected service deficiency.
 4. The wireless interface of claim 3,wherein the controller device directs the cross-connect to providecommunication services to the portion of the plurality of residencesaffected by the detected service deficiency by way of the centraloffice.
 5. The wireless interface of claim 4, wherein the controllerdevice directs the wireless transceiver to deactivate communicationswith the wireless station.
 6. The wireless interface of claim 5, whereinthe controller device restricts communication services to emergencybroadcast messages supplied by a group of emergency response centers tothe portion of the plurality of residences affected by the detectedservice deficiency.
 7. The wireless interface of claim 5, wherein thecontroller device restricts communication services to emergency requestssubmitted by the portion of the plurality of residences affected by thedetected service deficiency to an emergency response center.
 8. Thewireless interface of claim 1, wherein the wireless station comprises anemergency response center providing emergency services to the portion ofthe plurality of residences affected by the detected service deficiency.9. The wireless interface of claim 1, wherein the communication servicesinclude plain old telephone service and voice over IP.
 10. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computerinstructions which responsive to being executed by a processor of awireless interface operating in a service area interface cause theprocessor to perform operations comprising: detecting a servicedeficiency in a portion of communication services supplied by a centraloffice over first communication lines coupled between a cross-connect ofthe service area interface and a central office, wherein the servicedeficiency is based on a bit error rate not meeting a desired thresholdwithout the portion of the communication services affected by theservice deficiency being interrupted, a signal-to-noise ratio notmeeting a desired threshold without an outage of the portion of thecommunication services affected by the service deficiency, and a qualityof an analog signal not meeting a desired threshold without thecommunication services affected by the service deficiency beinginterrupted, wherein the service area interface is coupled with aplurality of establishments over second communication lines, wherein thecross-connect and the service area interface are remotely located fromeach of the plurality of establishments for distributing thecommunication services to each of the plurality of establishments;directing the cross-connect to provide communication services to aportion of the plurality of establishments affected by the servicedeficiency by way of a wireless transceiver supplying backupcommunication services by way of a wireless communication system tobypass the first communication lines while delivering the communicationservices to the portion of the plurality of establishments over thesecond communication lines; and detecting a restoration of operations ofthe portion of communication services affected by the servicedeficiency.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: directing thecross-connect to provide communication services to the portion of theplurality of establishments affected by the service deficiency by way ofthe central office; and directing the wireless transceiver to deactivatecommunications with the wireless communication system.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein theoperations further comprise restricting communication services to theportion of the plurality of establishments affected by the servicedeficiency to emergency services when the wireless transceiver isengaged to supply said communication services.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the operationsfurther comprise restricting communication services to emergencybroadcast messages supplied by a group of emergency response centers tothe portion of the plurality of establishments affected by the servicedeficiency.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 12, wherein the operations further comprise restrictingcommunication services to emergency requests submitted by the portion ofthe plurality of establishments affected by the service deficiency to anemergency response center.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 10, wherein the wireless communication systemcomprises an emergency response center providing emergency services tothe portion of the plurality of establishments affected by the servicedeficiency.
 16. A service area interface, comprising: a cross-connectcoupled to a central office and a plurality of buildings, wherein thecross-connect is remotely located from each of the plurality ofbuildings for distributing communication services to each of theplurality of buildings, the cross-connect coupled with the centraloffice via first communication lines, the cross-connect coupled with theplurality of building via second communication lines; a wirelesstransceiver coupled to the cross-connect to supply backup communicationservices by way of a wireless station; a detection device to detect aservice deficiency in a portion of the communication services suppliedby the central office over the first and second communication lines tothe plurality of buildings by way of the cross-connect, wherein theservice deficiency is based on a bit error rate not meeting a desiredthreshold without the portion of the communication services affected bythe service deficiency being interrupted, a signal-to-noise ratio notmeeting a desired threshold without an outage of the portion of thecommunication services affected by the service deficiency, and a qualityof an analog signal not meeting a desired threshold without thecommunication services affected by the service deficiency beinginterrupted; and a controller device that directs the wirelesstransceiver to establish communications with the wireless station inresponse to the interruption, wherein the controller device directs thecross-connect to redirect communications associated with a portion ofthe plurality of buildings affected by the interruption to the wirelesstransceiver to bypass the first communication lines while delivering thecommunications to the portion of the plurality of buildings.
 17. Theservice area interface of claim 16, wherein the controller device:detects a restoration of operations of the communication servicesaffected by the interruption; directs the cross-connect to redirectcommunications associated with the portion of the plurality of buildingsaffected by the interruption to the central office; and directs thewireless transceiver to deactivate communications with the wirelessstation.
 18. The service area interface of claim 16, wherein thecontroller device restricts communication services to the portion of theplurality of buildings affected by the interruption to emergencyservices when the wireless transceiver is engaged to supply saidcommunication services.
 19. The service area interface of claim 16,wherein the controller device restricts communication services toemergency broadcast messages supplied by one or more emergency responsecenters to the portion of the plurality of buildings affected by theinterruption when the wireless transceiver is engaged to supply saidcommunication services.
 20. The service area interface of claim 16,wherein the controller device restricts communication services toemergency requests submitted by the portion of the plurality ofbuildings affected by the interruption to one or more emergency responsecenters when the wireless transceiver is engaged to supply saidcommunication services.